Bowers v. Hardwick

Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) is a U.S. Supreme Court decision in which a Georgia Law was upheld as constitutional. Before Lawrence v. Texas, the Bowers case concluded that sodomy between consenting adults could be criminalized.

The unofficial Syllabus of the Court's decision summarized:

The Constitution does not confer a fundamental right upon homosexuals to engage in sodomy. None of the fundamental rights announced in this Court's prior cases involving family relationships, marriage, or procreation bear any resemblance to the right asserted in this case. And any claim that those cases stand for the proposition that any kind of private sexual conduct between consenting adults is constitutionally insulated from state proscription is unsupportable. Pp. 478 U. S. 190-191.[1]